Luigi: Love's Trial
by Chezmeralda
Summary: Luigi, the younger twin of the famous Mario brothers, can't possibly think about love right? But for some reason, one young princess with shiny auburn hair slowly makes her way into his thoughts. Could it be love at first sight?
1. Prologue

**Prologue: The Desert Flower  
**  
She stood there. Watching. Watching anxiously as the red stranger defeated the purple alien king. She tried to thank him, but the gag in her mouth prevented proper words to come out.

"Here," he said. "Let me untie you first."

She held still as the red man freed her from the heavy metal shackles that chaffed and rawed her skin.

"Thank-you very much...um..." she looked at him awkwardly.

"Mario," he supplied. She nodded and smiled, reluctantly. "It was no trouble, Princess."

She held up her hand in protest. "No, I would rather you call me Daisy, please."

He blinked, slightly stunned, and then smiled.

"Of course, Daisy, I'd be happy to." She smiled contentedly, but then her face dropped, her eyes far-off. He saw she was troubled.

"What's the matter, Daisy?" he asked. She looked hesitantly at him.

"As much as Sarasaland would be honoured to have its saviour stay, I'm afraid my intuition tells me that your princess is in danger."

"Really? That's horrible! I'd better leave, but I'm so tired, and I don't have any more power-ups or 1-ups," he said warily.

"Of course, Mario, we wouldn't leave you empty handed upon your return to the Mushroom Kingdom. You may head to the supply room for some power-ups and 1-ups. I also have a package for you to give to Peach." She handed him a feeble looking brown package.

He looked at it and began to open it, curious to what was inside. Daisy stopped him.

"This is for the eyes of the Princess only. Sorry." He looked up to see her face grim.

They headed to the supply room to settle on things Mario would take with him. Ambassador Chai came up to them hurriedly.

"We've just received word from the Mushroom Kingdom that they require assistance. Princess Peach has been kidnapped."

Mario looked from the blustered ambassador to the calm, but grave looking princess. _She was right_, he thought, amazed.

"Mario, please hurry and help Peach," she said, turning to him.

He nodded. "Thank-you for the power-ups, they'll come in handy."

"Don't mention it. They were gathering dust here anyway." He turned to leave. "Oh, and Mario," she said. He turned to look at her. "Thank-you and good luck."

**4 Years Later  
**  
Beads of sweat rolled down from Luigi's temple, down near the corners of his mouth. He licked his lips and wiped his brow with his sleeve. He looked back to see his brother shield his eyes with his arm as he looked up at the sky, tightly clutching the ball in his hand. _This is it_, he thought.

They were so close. The score was at Deuce, but Peach was tired and her partner, whoever she was, couldn't hold out for both of them much longer. Luigi and Mario had gone over the game plan earlier.

_"Whose Peach's partner again?" Luigi asked for the fifth time._

"That doesn't matter right now," Mario snapped with irritation. Luigi huffed. "Now remember, these girls are good, but Peach isn't high on stamina, and sooner than enough she'll rely more on her partner's strength, and that's when you strike, 'kay?" Luigi nodded excitedly. The competitive bug was catching.

"But her partner is also tricky, so watch out, got it?" Luigi nodded again.

They headed out onto the clay court and took position. Peach tightened her ponytail. Her partner, who had shoved a lock of hair behind one ear, had caught Luigi's eye.

She was quite pretty. She had wide, innocent, ocean green eyes, tan skin and sun freckles on her cheeks. Her lips were red and lush. Her hair was a dark, brownish-orange, which was tied up in a messy bun, her hair in a disarray. She had a good build, reminding Luigi of Amazonian warriors he used to read about. Her legs were toned, and her arms strong.

Her innocent eyes held the look of intensity, like how some professionals looked right before a game. She adjusted her white tennis cap, which had a daisy symbol on it. It matched the white accent on her yellow tennis dress and white tennis shoes.

The referee then came in. He called Luigi and the girl to the front of the net. "Okay, you two, are you heads or tails?" Luigi answered heads. The girl smiled slyly, like she wanted that.

"No, no wait. I mean tails," he fumbled. She frowned.

"Okay, you two, shake hands now," They reached over the net. Luigi felt her soft skin and it sent an odd tingle up his spine. Her handshake was firm, though, proving his earlier comparison to a warrior.

The coin was flipped and the referee caught it. "Sorry bud, it's heads. Should have kept your first guess. This team's serve."

The girl caught the balls and headed to the baseline. Luigi stared in disbelief. He saw Peach mouth the words, "Did you bluff him?" and saw the girl smile brilliantly. His eyes were still wide as he headed to the baseline.

Mario caught his sleeve. "I told you she was tricky."

He was ready now. She was heaving hard, having kept the ball away from her low-stamina partner, Peach.

He was serving. They were on the advantage now. He hit the ball hard, imagining it smash into the ground. Peach spun for momentum and hit it hard, Mario ran up to it and volleyed it to the side. The girl dove and tipped it over the net. Mario hit it again and the girl ran and whacked it, sending to the far corner. Luigi saw his chance.

He shook his racket and began to spin, gaining momentum as green sparks whirled around him. His racket met the ball with a deafening crack, sending it from his corner to the other diagonally across the court.

Mario ducked and the girl dove for it, but she was too far left. Peach missed it, having been on the other side of the court.

A deafening roar from the crowd sounded as Mario ran to hug his brother. "We won! We did it!"

"Good job, buddy." Luigi turned toward the silky sound to see the girl coming up to him, all smiles.

"Gee, thanks," he blushed. "You were really good out there."

"Thanks, you too," her smooth voice said.

"Are you coming for the after party?" Luigi asked.

"No, I've got to get home and I have to deal with some issues there. But I'll see you around sometime."

She turned to leave. "Hey!" Luigi yelled. She turned back to him.

"What's your name?"

"Daisy. Daisy Salzwell," she replied.

"Well, I look forward to seeing you again, Daisy," they shook hands in farewell.

_To Be Continued..._


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Beat It!**

Not too long ago, a man wrapped in green left a small cozy cottage, whistling as he went. Through brush and brook, he tromped and trudged his own path through the woods, where great pioneers before him had set off in search of adventure. Though, truthfully, as great as that sounded in his mind, Luigi new that the pioneer of his family would be his older brother, Mario. _I'm just glad to get out of the house every now and then_, he thought to himself. He knew that his brother was in for the high life of glory, and he enjoyed the quiet of the mansion he had. That one adventure was enough for him.

He continued to walk through the woods, just enjoying the sun. He remembered years ago when they first arrived, that everything was so different, yet so new and wonderful. He remembered the turmoil the kingdom was in, and Mario gallantly stepped in to save the day. He had stayed behind to 'keep watch over the kingdom' and was actually quite content with staying behind. He got to see and learn all of the history of the Mushroom Kingdom. He enjoyed history. He was quite surprised to find that they had somehow fallen through the portal and helped a Yoshi save his island when they were young kids. Perhaps they were meant to stay here.

A twig snapped underneath Luigi's feet and he came back to reality, almost reluctantly. He looked around and realized he didn't recognize this part of the woods at all. He looked back and saw a small sign, "TRESPASSERS BEWARE! TURF OF THE EVIL WARIO BROS." followed by a series of 'Bwahaha's'.

He continued to walk anyway. He didn't really care that they would threaten him to leave. He wasn't scared of them, despite everyone's belief. He just thought it unnecessary to fight them. After all, what were they? People that were critics of the Mario Bros., and didn't enjoy it when people thought of them as wannabe's.

As he walked, he stopped. A squeal was heard from above the trees and later followed by a loud thump. Running to the spot, he saw a poor Toad whimpering in a heap of leaves.

"What's wrong Toad?" he bent down to help the Toad up.

"Well, I lost my way in the woods and then..out of nowhere, this...thing, I think it was something like a new water-filled Bo-bomb, falls from the sky and explodes!"

Luigi frowned. He knew the new Bo-bomb was something Waluigi was working on for quite some time now. He remembered it clearly, too, the day Waluigi showed him the designs...

_"... and that's how it can still explode with the water inside it! Pretty neat, huh?"_

_Waluigi's face was brimming with pride, and Luigi couldn't help but feel like he was looking into the eyes of an expectant five year old. "You've definitely thought this through, Waluigi. Nice job."_

_Waluigi grinned from ear-to-ear, but his eyes lost that ambitious inventor's spark that Luigi new only too well. "Something wrong, man?"_

_"Well, let's just say... I showed my brother, Wario, the designs, yeah? But he thought it was a waste of time and funding, and wouldn't give me the coinage to start the production of these darned things," Waluigi folded the blueprints with a muffled grumble._

_Luigi felt bad for him. This is how the secret truce between the two younger bros' started. Both had, at some point in their lives, been neglected by family members because of importance of other things over their own needs. Luigi remembered that all too well from his childhood years..._

_'Mario needs to go to swimming practice. Couldn't it wait, Luigi, dear?'_

_'Mario's got a recital coming up, son. We could play catch tomorrow...'_

_'I've got a date, bro. Could you cover my chores for me?'_

_"Hey, Waluigi! Oi! Wait a sec'!" Luigi sprinted after him._

_Waluigi turned around to look at him, puzzled. "What?"_

_"If you promise not to test it on unsuspecting victims, especially your older brother, I'll fund you to start production."_

_Waluigi's eyes widened. "Seriously?" _

_"Yeah, seriously."_

_"You got it, dude. Thanks."_

Luigi knew Waluigi was a man of his word. So he didn't understand why the Bo-bomb was being abused, unless...

"So, look who decided to try and save the day!" Wario's domineering shadow seemed to block the sun as he stood above the two.

Luigi picked up the Toad and ran. Fast. He heard Wario in the background, "Yeah! You'd better run, Green Bean! Go on! Beat it! Get your older brother to save you!"

Luigi muttered angrily under his breath. True, he wasn't a good fighter like Mario was, but he didn't find it necessary to fight everyone that stood in your way.

He put the Toad down gently. "Awe, don't worry Luigi. Your brother would have let you help him beat Wario." Luigi watched the Toad walk away.

Luigi sighed. He didn't understand. He did things differently from his older brother, but it was still just as effective, and probably more reasonable. He sighed. He didn't even get a small 'Thank-you' out of that Toad. He would have at least appreciated that much. He sighed again.

_Little did he know, things were going to change..._


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: A Letter**

Luigi shut the door of his mansion and unwrapped himself of outer garments he'd worn prior to his walk. He was greeted immediately by the appearance of a short greying man with wild spectacles and a flippy hairstyle. Luigi quirked an eyebrow at the strange object next to him. He decided better not to question it, though, because he knew the professor would tell him eventually.

"Hey Professor. I didn't realize you returned from your trip. How was it?"

Professor E. Gadd started at the sound of Luigi walking towards him. "Oh! Luigi, I didn't realize you'd come in. My trip was wonderful. The Mushroom Kingdom has many amazing neighbours that are very interesting. They remind me of lands I read in picture books."

Luigi smiled at that. The Mushroom Kingdom seemed like it came out of a picture book itself. "What places did you visit?"

The professor looked at his catalogue book and read his list. "Well, let's see. I visited Rogue Port and Isle Delfino. I went to Diamond City for a bit. Oh, I even visited the Koopa Kingdom for a while. Though I've no idea why, but I enjoyed it there. Oh, and I got to visit the Waffle Kingdom and I met the princess, Éclair Bluburri."

Luigi looked intently at the professor when he heard this. He remembered the Waffle Kingdom. In fact, he had somehow, though he thought it a total fluke, saved that princess from a supposed evil Chestnut King. He was just travelling through and needed some food. He didn't remember doing anything heroic or brave...

But now that he thought on it, he remembered people asking questions about his "adventure", and when he didn't answer they made up answers of their own and thought he was hiding the answers because he was having an affair with the Kingdom's princess, which, to his dismay, was the gossip of the town and the official story of his fluke adventure made it into the videogame version of Mario's real adventure...

Luigi looked down to the photo of the professor and Princess Éclair. Short, flippy, blueberry shade hair greeted him. He'd never met the princess. She wore a purple dress and smiled up at the camera. He remembered more of the kingdom itself as he looked at the picture of the pretty princess. It reminded him a lot of how he'd always imagined the scene of the board game Sugarland when he was little.

"Did you visit anywhere else?" Luigi asked as he handed back the picture to the professor.

E. Gadd flipped through his catalogue once more. "Ah! Yes! I also visited the tropical kingdom of Sarasaland. It was rather hot so I remembered to bring my shorts and..."

Luigi didn't follow E. Gadd's rambling. Sarasaland... Why did that kingdom name sound so familiar? Where did he see it before? He couldn't quite put his finger on it...

"...but unfortunately I wasn't quite as lucky to meet this kingdom's princess. She's a tad too busy for the enthusiastic tourist, that Princess Daisy."

Luigi's head snapped from the portion of wall he was staring at to the professor. "Pardon? What was that?"

"Luigi, my boy, if you couldn't keep up with my story, you could've told me earlier."

"No, no. That name. What was that name that you just said?"

"Why that would be Princess Daisy Salzwell of Sarasaland."

Luigi thought hard as to why that name sounded so significant to him...

_"What's your name?"_

_"Daisy. Daisy Salzwell..."_

His eyes widened significantly at his flashback, two years prior, when Peach had held that tennis tournament.

"Oh yes! That reminds me..."

Luigi reluctantly put away his thoughts for a later time, and he watched E. Gadd rummage through his knapsack.

"I know it was somewhere...I could've sworn that I...A-ha! I've got it! A letter that I'm to deliver to Princess Peach. It's in Princess Daisy's hand." Luigi took the letter from the professor and looked at the envelope.

Immediately he was assaulted by the light scent of summer and daisies. He held the letter closer and realized it came from the letter. _It must've been really close to her when she handed it to someone to deliver_, Luigi thought as he took a big whiff of the potent stuff. He concentrated hard to read the writing on the envelope. In elegant and professional script, he read:

_To be delivered to Princess Peach Toadstool of the Mushroom Kingdom_

_ Signed,_

_ Princess Daisy Salzwell_

_ of_

_ Sarasaland_

"Luigi, I am awfully tired from my trip, and I have so much to catalogue and catch up on in my lab. Could you possibly be the one to deliver this to the princess?"

Luigi looked up from the letter. "Sure, no problem Professor."

"Thank you, Luigi. You're a life saver. Oh, ow! And a back saver. Dare I say, some of the motels I stayed at weren't keen of having a bed so forgiving to a poor old man's back," E. Gadd said as he stretched his worn out muscles.

Luigi smirked and nodded as the professor trundled off to his lab. He turned to the coat hanger and realized that it was empty.

"Shivers? You there?" Luigi called into the emptiness.

"Yes, Master Luigi?" The ghost of the old butler said, appearing behind Luigi.

Luigi started when he turned around. "Oh! Shivers, what did we say about appearing right behind me? That you're not supposed to?"

"My apologies, Master Luigi."

Luigi sighed inwardly. He knew that they wouldn't listen to his one request on that, because ghosts just do that. It was a habit. "That's all right. Look, I'm sorry to trouble you, but could you get my jacket from my room? I know you just put it away, but I have a sudden errand to run and it's kind of chilly out."

"That's quite all right, Master Luigi. It would be no trouble to get it for you." Shivers bowed low and disappeared.

Luigi smiled inwardly as he thought of the day when he set the portrait ghosts all free and made a deal with them...

_"Wait! Stop! I'm not going to fight you!" Luigi raised both hands as if to show his innocence._

_"Why should we believe you? How are we to know you didn't set us free just to fight us again?" the ghost called Biff Atlas proclaimed arrogantly. Miss Petunia, who was behind him, nodded her agreement._

_"If I really did, why would I set you free all at once?" Luigi crossed his arms and waited for a reply._

_"He's right, Biff. If he really did want to fight any of us, he'd fight us one at a time," Slim Bankshot said. Biff mumbled gruffly._

_"We ought to hear him out, you know," Melody Pianissima stated simply._

_Luigi mumbled his thanks to the pretty ghost. "Guys, I know you're all upset at me putting you in those portraits, and I apologize. But you do realize why I had to do it, correct?" He watched the ghosts nod slowly._

_He breathed deeply and continued. "I'm glad that you all understand my situation of that time. But I think we can all put that behind us. I've come to the conclusion you all didn't really want to fight me, and because of that I've come to this state of mind: I'm going to let you live in my newly acquired mansion."_

_"You mean you're going to let live with you? Just like that?" Lydia asked._

_"No, no. I have a few ground rules," Luigi said._

_"You mean conditions, don't you, boy?" Neville, Lydia's husband said, as he floated beside his wife._

_"Well, if you put it that way, then yes. They're conditions," Luigi said. He heard them mumble their doubts._

_"Look, they're pretty reasonable. I let you live here, in the safety of the mansion. In exchange, we live together like a family, or more accurately, roommates."_

_"Really? That's it?"_

_"Oh, and you can't just appear right behind me. That just freaks me out."_

_"So we just live together? Just like that?"_

_"Yeah. You get the safety of the mansion, and we help each other out every now and then."_

_"I say, why not?"_

"Master Luigi? Here's your coat." Shivers handed him his forest green coat.

"Thanks again, Shivers," Luigi said as he shrugged into his jacket. He watched as the butler ghost nodded courteously and disappeared.

Luigi looked down at the envelope as he walked towards Peach's Castle. _I wonder what she wrote in here,_ Luigi thought.

_He didn't know it yet, but she wrote something that could change his future..._


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: The Invitation**

When Luigi opened the grand doors of the Royal Sitting Room of Mushroom Palace he wasn't exactly surprised to see Mario already there. Mario had been spending a lot of his time at the Palace lately, which Luigi didn't mind. He enjoyed having time to himself wandering between the cottage and his mansion.

Mario looked up to see his brother standing in the doorway, hanging his green coat. "Hey, bro. What are you doing here?"

"Professor E. Gadd just came back from his trip and he had a letter for Princess Peach," Luigi said as he wiped his shoes on the rug.

"A letter? For me?" Princess Peach said as she waltzed in with her graceful gait. "From whom?"

Luigi handed her the letter reluctantly. He had been taking great big whiffs of the natural perfume coming from the letter on his way to the castle, and he found that each time he smelled it, it got better and more addicting.

As Peach read the contents of the letter, Luigi admired her beauty from the corner of his eye. He had a small crush on her when they had first arrived here, but was too shy to say anything. Now, though he was over it, he enjoyed admiring her from afar. Gold waves of hair and wide, enchanting blue eyes accentuated her delicate angelic-like features. Each expression on her face was always so gentle and serene, like a mother looking on a new born baby for the first time. It was no mystery to him why Mario loved her so much.

A small gasp got Mario's attention in a snap. "Is something wrong Peach?" Peach looked up and reassured Mario nothing was wrong with a comforting smile.

"No, nothing is wrong. Princess Daisy invited us to go to her kingdom, that's all," she folded the letter and delicately replaced it in the envelope.

Mario shot up at that. "Really? That's wonderful news!"

"Yes, it is," Peach sighed. "She said that her cruiser would be here in a few days, so we have some time to invite a few people to go with us."

Luigi looked at both of them. "How many people can fit on the cruiser?"

Peach gave a girlish giggle. "Oh, well, the cruiser could be a Karting Course if you wanted it to be!"

Luigi raised his eyebrows before furrowing them in a thoughtful look. _So, Princess Sarasaland has some financial muscle_, he thought to himself.

"This is so exciting! Oh, we could invite Yoshi and Toad and the girls. We could probably even ask if..." Mario and Peach walked off, planning who they would invite.

Luigi started to walk after them, but thought better of it. He decided to look through Peach's photo albums instead. She probably had at least one album full of pictures of her and Daisy, especially since they went to the same princess school.

Running into the library, he consulted the Photo Record section. He ran his finger along each spine of the albums, until he came upon one that caught his interest. Embossed and gold font read:

_Best Friends_

_ from_

_Central Mushroom Kingdom Boarding School_

Luigi pulled the rather large album from the dusty shelf and set it down on a table behind him. He blew off the excess dust and saw on the cover a scenic picture of the preppy boarding school. Opening it, hundreds of pictures of princesses appeared on the first page, each one showing Peach with a friend of hers. He saw that, next to Peach, Daisy occupied many pictures. _They must've been best friends_, he thought.

Pictures of them throughout the years of them being in that school occupied that book, and a few pictures were from more recent years. Pictures of school plays and studying in a park and going to the mall. All of them were here. Each time Luigi saw a picture of Princess Daisy; he stopped and stared at her. He couldn't believe how pretty she was. He remembered that day on the tennis court, when he first saw her.

Realizing the time, he hastily put back the album and put it in his memory for later. He wasn't done looking through Daisy's past just yet.

He sprinted down the hall and found Peach and Mario in the Writing Room, still discussing their invitation plans.

"Luigi! There you are! We've already decided who we're going to invite," Peach greeted Luigi as he enter through the door.

"That's great. Who's going to come with us then?" Luigi asked.

"Well, we invited Yoshi, Birdo, Toad and Toadette, of course," Mario said.

"Toadsworth is obviously coming. I also invited Boo and DryBones. Blooper and Hammer are coming, too. And I talked Mario into letting the Wario Bros. to come along," Peach said.

Luigi looked oddly from Mario and back to Peach. "How'd you convince him?"

"I told him that Wario and Waluigi deserved to see that Daisy wasn't someone to hassle," she said.

Luigi shrugged. He didn't know how that had to do with anything, but they were coming anyway. _Can't change what you have no control over_, he thought.

"So did you send out the invitations already?" Luigi asked.

"Yes. The precise date and time the cruiser is to come is on the invitations. All we have to do now is pack and get ready to leave," Peach said.

Luigi nodded and excused himself to go. He turned the doorknob before Peach called him back.

"Luigi! Make sure to pack something for tropical weather. It's a bit hotter in Sarasaland than here." Luigi turned back to Peach and nodded before heading out the door.

_To Be Continued..._


End file.
